Evaluation of early biomarkers of renal dysfunction in diabetic patients.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate 2 renal tubular enzymes; urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (uNGAL), and urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase (uNAG), and serum Cystatin C as candidate biomarkers for early diagnosis of early stage of diabetic nephropathy (DB) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). METHODS: This cross-sectional study was carried out at King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia during the period between  May 2017 and May 2018 and was conducted on 86 patients with T2DM. Patients were classified according to their albumin/creatinine ratio (ACR) into 3 groups; a normal albuminuria group with ACR less than 30 mg/g creatinine, a moderately increased albuminuria group with ACR: 30-299 mg/g creatinine, and a severely increased albuminuria group with ACR ≥300 mg/g.  Healthy adults were recruited as a control group. Urine uNGAL, uNAG, and serum Cystatin C were measured in all patients. RESULTS: Compared with healthy control, diabetic patients with normal albuminuria excreted significantly higher levels of uNGAL (p less than 0.001). In addition, significantly elevated uNGAL, uNAG and cystatin C levels were observed in moderately increased albuminuria and severely increased albuminuria groups when compared to the control and normoalbuminuric groups (p less than 0.001). urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin, urinary N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase and Cystatin C showed a positive correlation with fasting blood glucose (FBG), HbA1c, duration of diabetes, urea, creatinine, and ACR. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that uNGAL could be a sensitive biomarker for early renal dysfunction in diabetic patients while uNAG and serum Cystatin C might have prognostic value.

The role of Acacia Arabica extract as an antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic, and antioxidant in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of Acacia Arabica extract as a hypoglycemic, antihyperlipidemic, and antioxidant agent in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. METHODS: This is an animal experimental study conducted in King Fahd Research Center, King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from December 2012 to January 2013. Thirty-six female albino rats were divided into 2 equal groups; the first served as control, and the second was the streptozotocin-induced diabetic group. Each group was subdivided into 3 subgroups, each of 6 rats; the first was left untreated, the second and the third were treated with Acacia Arabica extract orally for 21 days (100 mg/kg for the second group and 200 mg/kg for the third group). On the twenty-first day, blood samples were withdrawn through the retro-orbital plexus of overnight fasted rats under light ether anesthesia for determination of serum glucose, insulin, total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), malondialdehyde (MDA), and coenzyme Q10 (Co-Q10). RESULTS: A significant decrease in levels of serum glucose, insulin resistance, TC, TG, LDL-C, MDA and a significant increase in HDL-C and Co-Q10 was observed in the treated diabetic groups when compared to the untreated diabetic group. The changes were dose dependent. CONCLUSION: The results found in this study indicate that Acacia Arabica extract has hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic, and antioxidant properties, therefore, it can be investigated for its efficacy in the treatment of diabetes in humans.